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{{short description|Canadian writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{about|the writer|the American Civil War general|Douglas H. Cooper}} {{about|the writer|the American Civil War general|Douglas H. Cooper}}
{{Infobox writer
|name=Douglas Anthony Cooper
|birth_date={{birth year and age|1960}}
|birth_place=], Ontario, Canada
|occupation=], ], ], ]
|genre=], ]
}}


'''Douglas Anthony Cooper''' is a Canadian ] living in Rome. ] in '']'' wrote that his "elliptical narrative style recalls works by ], ], ] and ]."<ref>{{cite news|author=MICHIKO KAKUTANI|title=Books of The Times: An Ancient Mariner Tells a Haunting Modern Tale|date=1994-02-25|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/25/books/books-of-the-times-an-ancient-mariner-tells-a-haunting-modern-tale.html|accessdate=2008-08-05}}</ref>
'''Douglas Anthony Cooper''' is a ] originally from ], who lived for many years in ] and currently resides in ], ].


==Background==
==Education and themes==
Cooper, born in ], has published three novels—'']'', '']'', and '']''—as well as a children's book, '']''. His second novel, ''Delirium'', is credited with being the first novel serialized online.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada|year=2002|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=0802007619|pages=, 1093–1094|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofli0000unse|url-access=registration|quote=Delirium douglas cooper.}}</ref>
Cooper trained in philosophy and architecture, and these are the areas that dominate his novels, which are generally placed in the category of postmodern fiction. ] in ] wrote that his "elliptical narrative style recalls works by ], ], ] and ]."<ref>{{citenews|author=MICHIKO KAKUTANI|title=Books of The Times; An Ancient Mariner Tells a Haunting Modern Tale|date=1994-02-25|work=]|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E2D91F3BF936A15751C0A962958260|accessdate=2008-08-05}}</ref>


Cooper has an M.A. in philosophy and completed a year of architecture school. His novels deal with architectural theory, and he has collaborated regularly with architects: notably on ] projects with ].<ref>{{cite news|author=NED CRAMER|title=The Plot Thickens: An Interview with Novelist Douglas Anthony Cooper|date=1998-07-01|work=]|url=https://stranglerfig.com/interview-douglas-anthony-cooper-architecture-magazine/|accessdate=2012-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103045425/http://bloggermortis.com/interview-douglas-anthony-cooper-architecture-magazine/|archive-date=2012-11-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Architects==
Cooper often works with architects, including a number of projects around the world with ] involving new media. His works with Diller + Scofidio include a landscape piece at the 2002 ] in ] and "Chain City", a video installation at the 2008 ]. He also partnered with ] on a major piece for the Architecture Triennial in Milan: an installation based on Cooper's second novel, '']''.<ref></ref>


He studied Latin rhetoric, and was a serious competitive debater in college—he was ] in 1985, and Runner-Up Best Speaker at the 1985 World Championships.<ref></ref> His first novel, ''Amnesia'', discusses how myths about classical rhetoric form the basis for ].
==Travel writing==
Cooper has written travel articles for many publications and was associated for years with '']''. In 2004 he won America's most prestigious ] award, the ] Gold Medal, from the Society of American Travel Writers.


Cooper was a Contributing Editor at '']'',<ref>.</ref> where he both wrote and photographed the travel articles. His photography for ''New York Magazine'' was the subject of a feature in '']''.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904022151/https://www.dysarm.com/Photography/Travel/PDN.html |date=2021-09-04 }}.</ref>
==Novels==
Cooper's writing and photography have appeared in ''The New York Times'',<ref>.</ref> '']'',<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Budget Audiophile|url=http://dysarm.com/the-budget-audiophile-rolling-stone|accessdate=1 July 2018|magazine=]|date=2001}}</ref> '']'',<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Very Nervous System|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.03/rokeby_pr.html|accessdate=2 September 2012|magazine=]|date=April 1994}}</ref> and '']''.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Joy of not Cooking|url=http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/joy-of-not-cooking|accessdate=2 September 2012|work=]|date=July 2000}}</ref> He won a National Magazine Award in Canada for a travel essay in '']''.<ref>.</ref> A piece in '']'' won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation in 2004,<ref>{{cite web|title=Quercus Authors|url=http://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/author/Douglas_Anthony_Cooper|accessdate=23 April 2013|archive-date=28 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528140146/https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/author/Douglas_Anthony_Cooper|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was collected in ''] 2004''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Jason|title=The Best American Travel Writing 2004|url=https://archive.org/details/bestamericantrav00pico|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=0618341269|page=368}}</ref> In 2012, Cooper wrote a series of controversial articles for the ], highly critical of ] (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and in support of the ]. This work, "PETA's Death Cult," was a finalist for the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, in the category of "Best Online-Only Article or Series of Articles."<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130118174043/http://www.canadianonlinepublishingawards.com/2012/winners.php |date=2013-01-18 }}.</ref>


==Amnesia==
*'']'' (1992), Cooper's first novel, is a work of architectural fiction. It chronicles the unraveling of a Toronto family, and the amnesiac girl who undoes one of its children, Izzy Darlow. The book is structured as an urban labyrinth, in which the obsessive power of Eros does battle with the compulsive need to forget. Cooper deals with memory theory throughout the novel, and emphasizes its relationship to classical rhetoric. He studied Latin rhetoric, and was a serious competitive debater in college - he was ] in 1985, and Runner-Up Best Speaker at the 1985 ]. ''Amnesia'' gained a following among architecture students and academic theorists, and Cooper has been deeply involved in the architectural community as an artistic collaborator.<ref></ref>
'']'' (1992), Cooper's first novel, was nominated for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. It chronicles the unraveling of a Toronto family, and the amnesiac girl who ruins one of its children, Izzy Darlow.


'']'' noted that it was "Published to extravagant praise in Canada (with comparisons to Nabokov, Genet, Calvino and Margaret Atwood)."<ref>{{cite news |title=Fiction review: Amnesia|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-56282-748-9|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=Publishers Weekly|date=February 28, 1994}}</ref> '']'' wrote that ''Amnesia'' was "more concerned with emotional states than traditional characters, and... reminiscent of, say, Thomas's '']''."<ref>{{cite news |title=Review: Amnesia|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/douglas-cooper/amnesia/#review|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=Kirkus Reviews|date=December 15, 1993}}</ref> ] in ''The New York Times'' observed: "Although... (a) self-conscious quality never entirely lifts, one gradually comes to appreciate Mr. Cooper's copious gifts."<ref>{{cite news|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|title=Books of The Times; An Ancient Mariner Tells a Haunting Modern Tale|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/25/books/books-of-the-times-an-ancient-mariner-tells-a-haunting-modern-tale.html|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 25, 1994}}</ref> James Polk, in a second ''The New York Times'' review, called ''Amnesia'' "a dense, absorbing first novel (which) locates prominent features in the landscapes of mind and memory."<ref>{{cite news|author=JAMES POLK|title=Izzy's Own Story|date=1994-03-06|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/06/books/izzy-s-own-story.html|accessdate=2012-11-01}}</ref> While the ''Chicago Tribune'' hailed the book as "intricate",<ref>{{cite news|last=Whitehouse|first=Anne|title=Douglas Cooper's intricate, symbol-laden tale of forgetting and identity|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24252481.html?dids=24252481%3A24252481&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=Apr+03%2C+1994&author=Reviewed+by+Anne+Whitehouse%2C+a+writer++critic.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=DOUGLAS+COOPER%27S+INTRICATE%2C+SYMBOL-LADEN+TALE+OF+FORGETTING+AND+IDENTITY&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131165655/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24252481.html?dids=24252481:24252481&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+03,+1994&author=Reviewed+by+Anne+Whitehouse,+a+writer++critic.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=DOUGLAS+COOPER'S+INTRICATE,+SYMBOL-LADEN+TALE+OF+FORGETTING+AND+IDENTITY&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=Apr 3, 1994}}</ref> the ''South Florida Sun-Sentinel'' dismissed it as "forgettable".<ref>{{cite news|last=Klotz|first=Steven|title=Amnesia a forgettable, meandering tale|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-06-26/entertainment/9406210353_1_douglas-cooper-amnesia-style-and-substance|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=Sun Sentinel|date=Jun 26, 1994|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212349/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-06-26/entertainment/9406210353_1_douglas-cooper-amnesia-style-and-substance|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ''Boston Globe'' called Cooper "ambitious", and noted that he "takes us on a journey through the dark corridors of the psyche, introducing us to characters who change shape as easily as smoke rings."<ref>{{cite news|last=Hengen|first=Vicki|title='Amnesia': a mind-bending coming-of-age novel|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/61957130.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=May+06%2C+1994&author=Vicki+Hengen%2C+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=%60Amnesia%27%3A+a+mind-bending+coming-of-age+novel&pqatl=google|accessdate=30 September 2012|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=May 6, 1994}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
*'']'' (1998), the second Izzy Darlow novel, follows the character to Manhattan. Darlow finds himself caught up in the tale of Ariel Price, a legendary architect who has vowed to murder his own biographer. The experiment in architectural structure initiated by Amnesia becomes increasingly complex and monstrous, in line with the projects designed by Price. '']'' observed that Cooper "invents an underground city of the dead and the disenfranchised that suggests the night visions in '']'' " (by ]). The novel deals with problems of narrative itself, and in particular a person's will to control his or her story, even after death. As with ''Amnesia'', ''Delirium'' addresses the nature of horror, and the impossible drive to redeem the broken ego. ''Delirium'' is widely recognized as the first novel serialized on the World Wide Web.<ref></ref> It was published by ] Electronic Publishing (TWEP), a pioneering effort to create online content.


==Delirium==
*'']'' is a gothic novel for young adults about a pair of flamboyant teenagers who can see and converse with dead students, and their war with the school psychologist who is set on convincing them that they cannot. It is a black comic look at the tactics of guidance counselors and juvenile psychiatrists.
'']'' (1998) was the first novel to be serialized on the World Wide Web. It was initially published digitally in 1994, by ] Electronic Publishing (TWEP). ''Delirium'' is the second Izzy Darlow novel, and follows the character to Manhattan. Darlow finds himself caught up in the tale of Ariel Price, a legendary architect who has vowed to murder his own biographer. The experiment in architectural structure initiated by Amnesia becomes increasingly complex and monstrous, in line with the projects designed by Price. ''The New York Times'' observed that Cooper "invents an underground city of the dead and the disenfranchised that suggests the night visions in '']'' (by ])."<ref>{{cite news|author=CRAIG SELIGMAN|title=Towering Ambition|date=1998-03-15|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/15/reviews/980315.15seligma.html|accessdate=2012-10-24}}</ref>
Cooper partnered with ] on an installation based on Delirium for the Architecture Triennial in Milan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/apr98/cooper.htm |title=Interview with Douglas Cooper *Writers Write&nbsp;— The IWJ* |publisher=Writerswrite.com |date= |accessdate=2012-10-04}}</ref>


==Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help==
*''Milrose Munce and the Plague of the Toxic Fungus'' is Cooper's second Milrose Munce novel for young adults. It pits Milrose against a cult of teen alchemists, who have kidnapped his girlfriend and are determined to graft her to an enormous corpse flower. The novel celebrates the need to find humor in even the most appalling circumstances.
'']'' (2007) is a gothic novel for young adults about a pair of flamboyant teenagers who can see and converse with dead students, and their war with the school psychologist who is set on convincing them that they cannot. It is a black comic look at the tactics of guidance counselors and juvenile psychiatrists. The novel became a surprise bestseller when it was accidentally published in ] format by ],<ref>{{cite news|author=JOHN BARBER|title=Publishing: From failed novel to chart-topper|date=2010-05-19|work=]|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/from-failed-novel-to-chart-topper/article4319683/|accessdate=2012-10-20}}</ref> and was subsequently deemed a "2008 Book of the Year" by the United Kingdom's Love Reading 4 Kids. It was on the ] Bestseller List in ], England, after the paper observed: "Appealing to the misfit in all of us, Milrose Munce is a grand, gigglesome read."<ref>{{cite news|author=JAMES LOVEGROVE|title=Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help|date=2008-05-24|work=]|url=http://search.ft.com/search?queryText=milrose+munce&x=0&y=0&aje=true&dse=&dsz=|accessdate=2012-10-24}}</ref>


== References == ==References==
{{reflist}} {{reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Portal|Children and Young Adult Literature}}
* - Critical Essay by Nancy Costigan
* Travel Essay Collected in ''Best American Travel Writing 2004''.
*
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103045425/http://bloggermortis.com/interview-douglas-anthony-cooper-architecture-magazine/ |date=2012-11-03 }} Interview with Douglas Anthony Cooper
* - Travel Essay Collected in ''Best American Travel Writing 2004'', ed. Pico Ayer
* - Cooper's Home Page *
* Articles by Douglas Anthony Cooper (including "PETA's Death Cult," a series about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's controversial practice of euthanasia)
* - Cooper's Blog

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
| NAME = Cooper, Douglas Anthony
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1960
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Douglas Anthony}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Douglas Anthony}}
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
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] ]
]

Latest revision as of 16:18, 28 July 2024

Canadian writer This article is about the writer. For the American Civil War general, see Douglas H. Cooper.
Douglas Anthony Cooper
Born1960 (age 63–64)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationWriter, novelist, journalist, photographer
GenreFiction, journalism

Douglas Anthony Cooper is a Canadian novelist living in Rome. Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times wrote that his "elliptical narrative style recalls works by D. M. Thomas, Paul Auster, Sam Shepard and Vladimir Nabokov."

Background

Cooper, born in Toronto, has published three novels—Amnesia, Delirium, and Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help—as well as a children's book, Galunker. His second novel, Delirium, is credited with being the first novel serialized online.

Cooper has an M.A. in philosophy and completed a year of architecture school. His novels deal with architectural theory, and he has collaborated regularly with architects: notably on new media projects with Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

He studied Latin rhetoric, and was a serious competitive debater in college—he was Canadian National Champion in 1985, and Runner-Up Best Speaker at the 1985 World Championships. His first novel, Amnesia, discusses how myths about classical rhetoric form the basis for memory techniques.

Cooper was a Contributing Editor at New York Magazine, where he both wrote and photographed the travel articles. His photography for New York Magazine was the subject of a feature in Photo District News. Cooper's writing and photography have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired, and Food & Wine. He won a National Magazine Award in Canada for a travel essay in Saturday Night. A piece in Travel + Leisure won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation in 2004, and was collected in The Best American Travel Writing 2004. In 2012, Cooper wrote a series of controversial articles for the Huffington Post, highly critical of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and in support of the No Kill movement. This work, "PETA's Death Cult," was a finalist for the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, in the category of "Best Online-Only Article or Series of Articles."

Amnesia

Amnesia (1992), Cooper's first novel, was nominated for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. It chronicles the unraveling of a Toronto family, and the amnesiac girl who ruins one of its children, Izzy Darlow.

Publishers Weekly noted that it was "Published to extravagant praise in Canada (with comparisons to Nabokov, Genet, Calvino and Margaret Atwood)." Kirkus Reviews wrote that Amnesia was "more concerned with emotional states than traditional characters, and... reminiscent of, say, Thomas's White Hotel." Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times observed: "Although... (a) self-conscious quality never entirely lifts, one gradually comes to appreciate Mr. Cooper's copious gifts." James Polk, in a second The New York Times review, called Amnesia "a dense, absorbing first novel (which) locates prominent features in the landscapes of mind and memory." While the Chicago Tribune hailed the book as "intricate", the South Florida Sun-Sentinel dismissed it as "forgettable". The Boston Globe called Cooper "ambitious", and noted that he "takes us on a journey through the dark corridors of the psyche, introducing us to characters who change shape as easily as smoke rings."

Delirium

Delirium (1998) was the first novel to be serialized on the World Wide Web. It was initially published digitally in 1994, by Time Warner Electronic Publishing (TWEP). Delirium is the second Izzy Darlow novel, and follows the character to Manhattan. Darlow finds himself caught up in the tale of Ariel Price, a legendary architect who has vowed to murder his own biographer. The experiment in architectural structure initiated by Amnesia becomes increasingly complex and monstrous, in line with the projects designed by Price. The New York Times observed that Cooper "invents an underground city of the dead and the disenfranchised that suggests the night visions in The Crying of Lot 49 (by Thomas Pynchon)." Cooper partnered with Peter Eisenman on an installation based on Delirium for the Architecture Triennial in Milan.

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help (2007) is a gothic novel for young adults about a pair of flamboyant teenagers who can see and converse with dead students, and their war with the school psychologist who is set on convincing them that they cannot. It is a black comic look at the tactics of guidance counselors and juvenile psychiatrists. The novel became a surprise bestseller when it was accidentally published in Amazon Kindle format by Doubleday, and was subsequently deemed a "2008 Book of the Year" by the United Kingdom's Love Reading 4 Kids. It was on the Financial Times Bestseller List in London, England, after the paper observed: "Appealing to the misfit in all of us, Milrose Munce is a grand, gigglesome read."

References

  1. MICHIKO KAKUTANI (1994-02-25). "Books of The Times: An Ancient Mariner Tells a Haunting Modern Tale". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  2. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. 2002. pp. 236, 1093–1094. ISBN 0802007619. Delirium douglas cooper.
  3. NED CRAMER (1998-07-01). "The Plot Thickens: An Interview with Novelist Douglas Anthony Cooper". Architecture Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  4. World Universities' Debating Championships
  5. New York Magazine Archives.
  6. Photo District News Archived 2021-09-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. Curbed.
  8. "The Budget Audiophile". Rolling Stone. 2001. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  9. "Very Nervous System". Wired. April 1994. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  10. "The Joy of not Cooking". Food & Wine. July 2000. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  11. National Magazine Awards.
  12. "Quercus Authors". Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  13. Wilson, Jason (2004). The Best American Travel Writing 2004. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 368. ISBN 0618341269.
  14. Canadian Online Publishing Awards Archived 2013-01-18 at archive.today.
  15. "Fiction review: Amnesia". Publishers Weekly. February 28, 1994. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  16. "Review: Amnesia". Kirkus Reviews. December 15, 1993. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  17. Kakutani, Michiko (February 25, 1994). "Books of The Times; An Ancient Mariner Tells a Haunting Modern Tale". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  18. JAMES POLK (1994-03-06). "Izzy's Own Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  19. Whitehouse, Anne (Apr 3, 1994). "Douglas Cooper's intricate, symbol-laden tale of forgetting and identity". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  20. Klotz, Steven (Jun 26, 1994). "Amnesia a forgettable, meandering tale". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  21. Hengen, Vicki (May 6, 1994). "'Amnesia': a mind-bending coming-of-age novel". Boston Globe. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  22. CRAIG SELIGMAN (1998-03-15). "Towering Ambition". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  23. "Interview with Douglas Cooper *Writers Write — The IWJ*". Writerswrite.com. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  24. JOHN BARBER (2010-05-19). "Publishing: From failed novel to chart-topper". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  25. JAMES LOVEGROVE (2008-05-24). "Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help". Financial Times. Retrieved 2012-10-24.

External links

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